Chapter 3: Caught
Lucas and I were eating lunch when Beth showed up. She came over to us and sat down. "Hey. What's new with you guys?" she asked casually. I was taken aback; she should know what's new. Before I could speak, Lucas nudged me with his elbow and winked. I gave him a confused and exasperated look. He leaned in close to my ear then whispered, "We have to act normal, remember what I said 'No one needs to know about this.'" He pulled back and started to have a conversation with Beth. I mostly sat there eating my pork chops, bread, and cooked potato. Once in a while I would add in the conversation, but my mind kept wandering to the light we saw.
Could someone else be in the cave that we don't know about? Maybe one of the miners found a cave and it was their torch light we saw. Well one thing is for sure, no one seems to know about it…..yet.
Soon we were back at our stations mining away at the stone wall. I finally stuck some iron and started to mine it quickly. Lucas and I are having a race to see who can get more iron than the other. So far I think I was winning. "How much you got now, Lucas?" I called. He was panting when he called back, "I got….3…..You?" he said between breaths. I had just finished digging my last iron ore. "Well now I got 6!" I laughed. I heard Lucas groan sarcastically. We kept at it until I heard Lucas say something.
"Hey, Pete?"
"Yeah?"
"Uh, where's Beth? I haven't seen her since lunch."
I stopped what I was doing and walked out next to Lucas who was standing next to Beth's station. "Oh she's in her dorm. Said she got sick." said someone behind me. I turned to see who had spoken; it was Mark, one of the older miners. Lucas nodded to him, "Thanks. Do you think we could go see her?" Mark shook his head, "Not unless you want Steen to yell at you." Mark then turned back to one of the mine's tunnels and left.
When we went back into the main hall for the night I snuck down into Beth's room. She was laying o her bed, back to me. "Psst Beth, Beth wake up it's me Pete." She stirred and sat up in her bed. "Pete? What are you doing here?"
"Mark said you were sick."
She sighed, "No I'm not sick." I was more confused than ever. I shook my head, "Then why are you here?" She sighed again, louder this time. "Well, if I kept mining in my station then I would expose that air pocket thing. And then people would eventually find out about the light source. So I stayed in my room. But when Mr. Steen found out I wasn't there, he called me to his office. He asked me a lot of questions Pete." This didn't sound good. "I had to tell him or he would fire me, and this is the only job in a hundred miles. And…he said I should sleep for the rest of the day, so I could have plenty of energy to show him…the secret." My face fell. He knows now, he knows. I had to warn Lucas.
